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Chef Killardee
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Chef Killardee was a real chef zombified by the mindless consumerism that taught people to purchase tinned pasta products at exhorbitant markups instead of making them at home.
The costume started with a made-to-order chef jacket in cotton twill, accompanied by a genuine 150-fold toque and a two-pocket waist apron. (Blood won't stick to a stain-resistant fabric made from 65% polyester and 35% cotton.) Not made to my measurements, though, so I had to have the jacket, and apron, tailored. And the apron almost didn't make it because the firm sent the wrong one initially and had to rush the replacement.
It pained me to destroy the jacket—see the before picture in the photo series—but it had to be done if Chef Killardee was to be successful.
The pants are DKNY white jeans, suitably distressed and destroyed. I found them at Macy's when I realized I should have some white pants, even though chef's usually wear stain-resistant checks. These were the only pair in white on the closeout rack and they were my size (!) so I, naturally, had to buy them. (It was a sign from Baron Samedi, the patron saint of zombies.) One just can't go wrong for $12 after applying a 15%-off coupon.
Everyone who saw the cleaver thought it was real and reacted accordingly. Except it wasn't just any cleaver. I made the cleaver from scratch using a sheet of 26 gauge sheet steel I cut and filed to shape, unfinished beech wood, and recessed brass flathead screws instead of rivets. It is a full tang blade, with an antiqued handle worn down to the shape of my hand by years of "use." Despite the appearance of a razor-sharp edge, the cleaver is actually perfectly smooth and, thus, technically not a weapon in the eyes of NYPD. (Although they did give me the eye the entire night.) Overall, it took about four solid hours of work to make. I was very careful to keep it literally "under wraps" on my trip downtown and until I was in the parade itself. No sense having my prop end up on some NYPD's trophy wall.
I made the exposed ribs from liquid latex, building up layers and coloring them with iron oxide and other pigments. It's a lot harder to make realistic ribs than you'd think. For starters, they aren't white (more pale yellow and pink) and are covered with a layer of muscle and gristle.
The woman's hand was purchased and modified by adding fake fingernails (picked out by my friend Stacie to be extra trampy; see her photos of me) and a ring and bracelet I picked up at a flea market. I would hold it up to people and say, "Would you like some ladyfingers? I just made them!" The foot was purchased and then customized with a high heel and a meat thermometer, allowing me to ask "Or maybe you have a foot fetish?". I'd point to the thermometer and say, "Proper meat safety is very important."
Everyone wanted to pose with me, and the zombies welcomed me with open arms. Well, ok, the ones that still had arms left...
8 files, last one added on Nov 08, 2006
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Jolly Green Giant
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Maja created a Halloween concept of taking iconic brands and bringing them to life, but with a unique interpretation by the costumer implementing the icon. (You can see some of the other brands in the "An Exercise in Branding" section.) She gave me the idea for Chef Killardee. (I came up with the name, though.)
Her take on the Jolly Green Giant is very faithful to the modern version and includes a Sprout handing out tainted spinach. The entire costume, including stilts, was homemade. While the colors of the various costume components, including makeup, match in person, the differences are pronounced in photographs. The color shifts stem from how the spectrum of light in the intense camera flash is absorbed or reflected at a molecular level by the different colored dyes in the fabrics, each of which reacts differently. (Ok, ok, so I once ghostwrote a paper on spectroscopy for a chemistry major. It's still all true.)
The original Green Giant was a scowling brute clad in a shearling loincloth better suited to scaring children. It wasn't until 1935 when Leo Burnett opened his own agency and picked up the Minnesota Valley Canning Co. as a client that the modern icon was created. Burnett added "Jolly" and replaced the lambskin (more appropriate for a cyclops snatching up sailors) with spinach leaves. In 1958, the "Ho, ho, ho" was added by a Burnett copywriter and the icon has pretty much been this way every since.
Enough history, go check out the pictures. Ho, ho, ho, Green Giant!
10 files, last one added on Nov 08, 2006
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Schwartz of the Fire Patrol
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Mike and I were supposed to meet early at the parade so I could take some shots of him at the Fire Patrol building on West 3rd Street. But a combination of factors—mostly my not finishing my costume until late and not getting my makeup on until after 6pm—caused me to be late to the parade start. In the meantime, Mike had gone off with his friends, and we didn't see each other during the parade. Afterwards, I went off to the East Village (he was still in the West) and each of us figured we'd just missed each other.
I didn't call him when I was heading home, since I thought he'd left hours previously. I was planning on taking an F train from Houston & 1st (I was in the East Village) to West 4th (two stops) and changing to an A and taking that to the faraway land, way up north. Now pay attention, boys and girls, 'cause this is important. The A, however, was running local on the F track (late night) so I didn't need to change. And at West 4th, of all the gin joints in all the world, Mike walks into mine: same exact train, same exact car. What are the odds? He was just heading a few stops north to Penn Station (34th Street) and during the few minutes we had together I took these shots.
So I did get to see his costume and he mine. Sometimes life just works out without trying.
5 files, last one added on Nov 08, 2006
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Random files - Halloween 2006 |
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Last additions - Halloween 2006 |
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